Reinforced car-truck.



G. G. FLOYD. REINFORCED GAR TRUCK. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1911.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

STAT S AT TQE GEORGE Gr. FLOYD, OF GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

REINFORCED CAR-TRUCK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon G. FLOYD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Granite City, in the county of Madison and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inReinforced Car-Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car trucks and has for its object, to improvethe construction, increase the strength and insure the rigidity thereof.

It has been found that car trucks as heretofore constructed wouldeventually under the stresses and strains of usage work loose at thejoints of the various parts sufliciently to diminish the rigidity of thetruck and permit the parts to give or yield slightly relatively to eachother. By repeated and extended tests it has been demonstrated that whena truck loses its rigidity sufficiently to permit relative longitudinalmovement between the sides of the truck a much greater expenditure ofpower is required to draw the truck around a curve than would berequired to draw a rigid truck around the same curve. This is due to thefact that when the truck is deflected from a straight line movement uponrounding a curve the outer side of the truck will lag behind the innerside because of the frictional engagement between the wheel flanges andthe outer rail, thus causing the truck axles to assume a diagonalposition relatively to the railthereby increasing the angle between theouter wheel flanges and the outer rail, and, as this angle increases,the frictional resist ance between the flanges and the rail willincrease proportionately. It will thus be evident that a truck which hasbecome loose at the joints so as to permit one side frame to lag behindthe other will require much more power to draw it around a curve than arigidly constructed truck which permits no relative movement between theside frames.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a cartruck which shall be absolutely rigid and which shall be so constructedthat the rigidity of the truck will be maintained even after severe andlong continued usage.

The structure and resultant advantages of my invention will be apparentfrom the following description when read in connec- Speeification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed February 23, 1911.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

Serial No. 610,136.

tion with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sideelevation of one embodiment of my invention; and Fig. 2 is a plan viewwith the top arch-bar broken away showing the columns in section.

Referring to the drawings, 5 indicates the upper arch-bar, 6 theinverted archbar, and 7 the side tie-bar of a railway truck, thesearch-bars and tie-bar being of a well known shape and formation. Uponthe upper face of the inverted arch-bar 6 there is disposed a gussetplate 8 which, near its center, is of greater width than the archbar andprojects at either side thereof. From its wide central portion thegusset plate tapers toward the ends which are of substantially the samewidth as the archbar.

The vertical columns 10 are supported upon the bed of the gusset plateadjacent its upwardly bent ends and are held in position by the usualcolumn bolts 11. The bases of the columns are shaped to conform to thecurvature of the inverted arch-bar and gusset plate and are providedwith laterally projecting ears which are fastened to the inclinedportion of the inverted archbar by rivets 12 which firmly secure thearch-bar, the gusset plate and the bases of the columns together.Between the columns is arranged the channel-shaped spring plank 13 whichconnects the side frames of the truck. The spring plank fits snuglybetween the columns 10, and the upturned flanges are secured by rivets14 to the flat faces of the columns, as shown in Fig. 2. It will benoted that the end of the spring plank projects beyond the invertedarch-bar to a position flush with the outer edge of the gusset plate.Upon each side of the arch-bar the spring plank is secured by rivets 15to the gusset plate and, substantially upon the longitudinal axis of thearch-bar, a plurality of rivets 16 securely and fixedly bind the springplank, the gusset plate, the inverted arch-bar and the tie-bar together.

By riveting the tie-bar, the gusset plate and the spring plank to thebed of the inverted arch-bar by a series of rivets which pass throughall these members, it will be obvious that a strong and rigidconstruction is produced which is further strengthened by the rivets 15connecting the spring plank and the gusset plate upon either side of theinverted arch-bar, so that twisting or relative angular movement of thespring plank relatively to the arch-bar is prevented. The gusset plateprojects at either side of the arch-bar and the outer end of the springplank is extended over the arch-bar in order that the spring plank andgusset plate may be riveted together at each side of the archbar therebygreatly increasing the strength and rigidity of the construction overthose in which no gusset plate is employed or which embody a singlegusset plate on the inner side of the arch-bar only. It will also benoted that further provision against twisting movement of the springplank is made by securely riveting the sides of the spring plank to thecolumns, which columns are held against torsional movement on the gussetplate by the rivets 12. The construction as a whole produces a strong,durable and rigid structure adapted to obviate any relative movementbetween the side frames of the truck such as would permit lagging of oneside of the truck behind the other.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the invention is notlimited to the exact construction shown and described and that thevarious parts are capable of considerable change and variation in size,shape, proportion and arrangement without departing from the spirit ofthe invention or sacrificing any of the material advantages thereof.

I claim:

1. In a car truck, the combination of an arch-bar, a gusset platemounted thereon, one or more columns resting on said gusset plate, and aspring plank disposed upon said plate and between said columns,substantially as described.

2. In a car truck, the combination of an arch-bar, a spring plankprojecting beyond said arch-bar, a gusset plate disposed between saidarch-bar and said spring plank, said gusset plate being secured to thearchbar on either side of said spring plank and also secured to saidplank on either side of said arch-bar, substantially as described.

3. In a car truck, the combination of an arch-bar, a gusset platecarried by said archbar, a pair of columns and a spring plank supportedon said gusset plate, and means for rigidly securing said arch-bar,columns and spring plank together, substantially as described.

4. In a car truck, the combination of an arch-bar, a gusset platedisposed thereon, a spring plank extending across said gusset plate, acolumn resting upon said gusset plate upon either side of said springplank, said gusset plate being riveted to said archbar outside saidcolumns and to the spring plank on each side of said arch-bar,substantially as described.

5. In a car truck, the combination of an arch-bar, a gusset platecarried thereby, a spring plank disposed across said gusset plate, meansengaged with said arch-bar, gusset plate and spring plank for bindingsaid arch-bar, gusset plate and spring plank together, and means forconnecting said gusset plate and spring plank together upon each side ofsaid arch bar, substantially as described.

6. In a car truck, the combination of an inverted arch-bar, a gussetplate carried thereby, a spring plank disposed across said gusset plate,said arch-bar, gusset plate and spring plank being riveted together, acol umn supported on said gusset plate at each side of the spring plank,said columns being riveted to the spring plank, and being riveted attheir outer sides to the arch-bar and gusset plate, substantially asdescribed.

7. In a car truck, the combination of an inverted arch-bar, a gussetplate riveted thereto at its ends, a spring plank resting upon saidgusset plate, means passed through said spring plank, gusset plate andarch-bar for connecting the same together, means for fastening saidspring plank and gusset plate together upon each side of the arch-bar,columns fastened to said spring plank, and means passed through saidarch-bar and gusset plate and the bases of said columns for rigidlyfastening the same together, substantially as described.

GEORGE e. FLOYD.

Witnesses:

E. B. Si-IERZER, JAs. H. LOMIE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C.

